SHANGHAI, Aug. 13 -- A POLICEMAN in northeastern China saved a Shanghai woman from killing herself after she wrongly sent him a text message intended to be her final words.

Wei Lai, a policeman in Suizhong County, Liaoning Province, received a short message about midnight on Thursday when the Heilongjiang native was on a night shift, Beijing News reported today.

He called police and emergency teams in Shanghai. They arrived within 30 minutes to save the woman.

The woman is now in stable condition.

The message spoke of feeling desperate at work and frustrated about affairs of the heart. The sender decided to "go to anther place" and "felt terribly sorry for the decision," the report quoted the SMS.

The message drew Wei's concern, who has been a policeman for almost three years. He immediately called back and spoke to a woman who sounded fragile and weak, the report said.

The young woman apologized for the message, which was intended for a good friend as her final words, the report said.

Wei started to chat with her, trying to persuade her to keep fighting and stay alive, the report said.

According to the report, the woman, a 24-year-old secretary, told him that she wanted to end her life because her boyfriend dumped her for another woman and she also had troubles at work.

She told him she had already taken a bottle of sleeping pills after her parents went to bed. She also pulled out the telephone line in case others tried to rescue her.

While talking to the woman, Wei found her address via a police database and dialed Shanghai's 110 and 120 for help.